The invention relates to the field of radiant energy ovens. More particularly, the invention relates to radiant energy ovens which employ heating elements for generation of infrared radiation.
Most pizza restaurants use deck pizza ovens which must remain on 24 hours per day, 7 days per week. Some restaurants use convection conveyer belt pizza ovens which remain on only during the hours of operation of the restaurant. Convection conveyer belt pizza ovens, however, are more expensive to purchase than conduction deck ovens and consume more energy per hour of operation than conduction deck ovens.
Microwave ovens also have been employed to cook pizza. Microwave ovens, however, cannot be used to cook high quality pizza. Microwave ovens are employed to cook commercially available frozen pizzas. The resultant microwave cooked pizza is usually unsatisfactory.
Higher quality pizza can be baked in a conduction/convection oven. In this instance, the pizza is placed directly on the hot floor of the oven to crisp the bottom of the crust. Conduction/convection ovens, however, have xe2x80x9chotxe2x80x9d spots and require constant operator attention to avoid over or under cooking of the pizza. Consistency therefore is a major problem. Moreover, conduction/convection ovens can require up to 20 minutes to cook a pizza.
In cooking and serving of pizza, energy and equipment costs have risen and have become an increasing economic burden on restaurants. In addition, productivity requirements for ovens continue to increase since restaurants desire to bake and serve pizza in the shortest possible time.
A need therefore exists for an oven which overcomes the time and energy disadvantages of the prior art ovens.